we are a family of 11 and Mom was sooooo excited about this program that everyone has a budget… even the 9 year old!! He budgets his “snacks” under the “cash” acct. My college student just called me yesterday after she set all her accts. up (mind you, I taught her over the phone – image that!!). All she could do was squeal!! “This is just too easy and fun!!!
Thank you so much YNAB!
Joylynn Bethea – Mississippi
I’m curious about this. People are constantly saying, “If I just had [fill in amount].. per month…”
For me it was $350 per month back in 2004. (To cover our rent). I’ve adjusted this question for inflation.
So…leave a comment down below. What would you do with $1,000 extra per month?
Taylor and I just came back from the Intel AppUp event in San Francisco (expect YNAB in the AppUp store shortly). All next week Taylor will be with me here in Utah and we’re going to be whiteboarding new features, road-mapping, etc.
We’re even working for a few hours today. On a Saturday :)
Before we got started, Taylor thought he should take a 12-minute power nap.
Budgeting can make dreams come true — really.
I’ve been wanting the ultimate driving machine for quite a while now. I think since I was seventeen or so. My wife finally caved and I was able to buy one!
My wife’s main concern was the fact that it’s pretty flashy (I chose silver). She said she didn’t want it to go to my head, was concerned about what others would think, etc.
None of this would have been possible except for the fact that we’ve been disciplined and calculated with our finances. This budgeting thing really works.
I’ve thought about sending her a t-shirt.
Or maybe sending a courier with a copy of the software.
What would you say to Jen to convince her?
Check out her blog post and leave a comment :)
Oh my.
YNAB Pro on Amazon has received many, many favorable reviews (thanks to everyone that’s written one!). However, apparently, too many positive reviews are a bad thing. From one reviewer:
Don’t be mislead by the lengthy positive reviews for this product, they appear to be fake.
Ouch!
One commenter further solidified this rock-solid assumption:
Awefully suspicious how there are so many five star reviews on this product. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another product on Amazon (esp software) rated so high. Thanks for this post; this makes me nervous and I am steering clear of this product.
Alas. I suppose too many positives do make a negative… if you’d like to leave a review, be my guest. But please make it real ;)
One sure-fire way to spend less is to count your blessings.
Note: Your Mac will need to be Intel-based for this to work!
1. Go to http://virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads and download the “VirtualBox 2.0.2 for OS X hosts” version for Intel Macs
The file is only 35 MB, so it downloads fairly quickly.
2. Unpack the contents of the .dmg file by double-clicking on it.
3. Run the installer:
4. From your Applications folder, click on the VirtualBox icon.
5. Click the New 
button (you don’t have any other options).
6. Follow the Wizard’s steps. I stuck with the recommendations (Base Memory Size of 192 MB):
7. I chose to boot to a 
hard disk.
8. Chose to use a dynamically expanding image for my hard drive:
9. The Image File Name can be the same as the name of the virtual machine you’re making:
10. Once the hard drive disk is created, you’ll see it populate your main Wizard. It has a .vdi extension (VirtualBox Disk Image):
11. Now click the “Finish” button.
12. Everything should be looking good, so go ahead and click Start.
13. You’ll get the Auto capture keyboard notice, just explaining that the keyboard will be sending strokes to VirtualBox unless you click out of it or press the Left Command key (Mac).
14. You’ll now be ready to go with your First Run Wizard. Follow those steps.
MAKE SURE YOUR WINDOWS INSTALLATION CD IS IN YOUR CD/DVD DRIVE
15. Follow the OS Installation Setup (in my case I’m installing Windows XP Home). Don’t worry about creating a hard drive partition (just click through to install) and choose to “Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick) option. To use function keys inside Windows (F8 particularly), you’ll need to hold down the Function (fn) key, and then press F8.
.
And I’ve got Windows obviously running now:
16. Start Internet Explorer from within your new installation, and download YNAB Pro.
17. Install the YNAB Pro setup file and you should be all set (you will likely need to download and install .Net 2.0. The installer will detect and do it for you).
18. And voila. I’m running YNAB Pro on my Intel Mac, Mac OS X 10.5.5.
Just wanted to post this interview of me by InnovativeEconomy.com. If you’re interested, head on over there and check it out!
Today is Porter’s 4th Birthday. For two years he’s asked me why I have to go to work. For two years I’ve told him the same thing:
To earn money, so we can buy food and have a place to live.
When he was really little he actually started to leave money out of the picture. I’d say I’m going to work and he’d respond, “to buy food?” And that, my friends, is how the world works. His first exposure to money and he just forgot about it. Food was the important part.
Last year for Christmas he was given a wallet with a five-dollar bill inside. I was amazed, but he actually kept that money in his wallet for the most part. A few times I found it among the toys in their toy box and I’d bring it to him and tell him how important it was that he keep track of his money (you can’t start ‘em too early). His aunt came and visited a few months ago and we headed off to Target because Porter had decided to assign those five dollars a job: buy a toy light saber.
Julie and I went off to do some other Target-errands while Porter and his aunt headed to the toy section. When it came time to checkout I was keenly aware of the entire process. This was his first transaction and I wanted it to hurt when he spent that five dollars. (The total was actually $7.50 and I made up the difference – a moment of weakness perhaps).
I made sure Porter handed the cashier the five dollars, and waited with baited breath to see his signs of hesitation, perhaps a furrowed brow and a longing look at his wilted piece of currency.
Nope. He handed it to her so fast and didn’t blink an eye. Money was a means to an end (end = light saber).
I used my new found knowledge a few weeks later when I came home from gathering food and was told that the basement apartment below us was now dealing with a broken window, compliments of Porter’s (awesome) ability to huck anything he can heft further than kids twice his age.
I didn’t so much care about the broken window, or even really about the money it would cost. I did want to teach Porter a lesson about what this loss would mean. I sat him down and told him that because it was going to cost money to replace the window, we wouldn’t be able to buy a Wii. His eyes got big and he got the lesson. The Mecham Pie is finite buddy, and you just ate a slice.
[We still haven't purchased a Wii even though I still really want one for, you know, Dad-Son bonding time and things like that. Porter still mentions the fact that we don't have a Wii because he broke the window. The lesson that just keeps on teaching!]
For Porter, the End was the Wii and we didn’t have the Means because he had broken a window.
As an adult with these little dependents running all around me, my Ends are different. Or at least they should be. And I suppose that is where the lesson lies.
This list is not exclusive, but as an adult, your Ends should include:
An Emergency Fund – Guys, give your wife a break and let her have a bit of breathing room! She’ll thank you for it.
Savings for Retirement – Don’t depend on anyone for your retirement except your own ingenuity, creativity, and sweat.
Minimal (or no) Debt Load – Pay off all of your debt as fast as you can and reclaim all of the time, sweat, thought, stress, and tears that create that precious income.
A kid gets bright-eyed with the prospect of spending $5 on a light saber. A guy gets bright-eyed with the prospect of spending $500 on a “modest” gas grill (the one that really caught my eye yesterday was over $900 though – yeah right!). Does the same guy get excited about throwing $500 toward unsecured debt? Or stashing $300 in his emergency fund?
At some point, the earlier the better, your Ends have to change. You’re no longer a kid. For Porter, Money equals things. For you, an adult, Money should equal Security and Peace.